Wednesday, 22 April 2009

We realise that due to the state of public finances the Treasury has little room to manoeuvre in the upcoming budget, but that makes it even more important that any schemes and measures are well thought out and implemented for immediate impact. A lot can be done to create a more supportive environment for businesses to work in.

Since deteriorating cash flows currently go hand-in-hand with tightening access to finance for SMEs, we call for a halt or reversal of any measures exacerbating the business cash-flow situation, such as the increased tax rate for small companies, the withdrawal of empty property relief and the newly implemented increased fuel tax duty.

City regions have been identified as the key drivers of the national economy and we ask for the implementation of genuine statutory powers for city regions to allow a quicker response in accordance with each city region’s specific needs and help us to make a real difference for businesses on the ground.

As always we also hope for no nasty surprises in an economic situation that is already hampered by high levels of uncertainty. In order to create a more consistent environment any measures should also be planned and implemented on a longer term basis, rather than being an ad-hoc, purely reactive response like, for example, the 12 months reduction of the VAT rate.

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Greater Manchester Chamber is the largest Chamber of Commerce in the UK. We offer a range of support services which members can access to help their business grow and compete. We also gather their opinions on business issues and lobby decision-makers locally, regionally and nationally to make sure members’ views are heard and acted upon.